Udichi ignored govt directives on Baishakh programmes
Says state minister for info; Udichi strongly protests his statement
Bangladesh Udichi Shilpigoshthi holding Pahela Baishakh celebratory programmes in Dhaka, defying the government directives was "unexpected" and "unfortunate", State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Md Ali Arafat said yesterday.
The directives were issued for the sake of public security, he said, adding that the "negative statement" that Udichi issued before Pahela Baishakh was also "unfortunate".
"The government is saddened and shocked at Udichi's behaviour," he told reporters at his secretariat office.
Hours after Arafat's reaction, Udichi, one of the country's prominent cultural organisations, strongly protested the state minister's remarks.
"Such a remark from a responsible position in the government is unfortunate," said Udichi in a statement.
Despite claiming that there was no security concern, the decision to restrict the Pahela Baishakh programmes to the evening is akin to surrendering to fundamentalists and religious bigots, said the statement signed by Kongkan Nag, publicity and information technology secretary of Udichi.
Earlier, the state minister told reporters that many people were killed and many others were paralysed following the bomb attacks at Ramna Batamul in the capital and a Udichi's programme in Jashore on Pahela Baishakh.
He mentioned that as the government remains always vigilant to ensure the safety of people's lives and property in every event, no terrorist attack or terrorist incident has occurred in Bangladesh in the recent past.
The state minister urged everyone's cooperation, pointing out that the government bears the responsibility of ensuring security so that happy celebrations do not turn into tragic events.
He asked who would be held accountable in the event of an accident at the location where Udichi held programmes defying the government's directives.
Meanwhile, Dhaka Metropolitan Police (DMP) in a statement early yesterday said, "It is very unfortunate and never expected from a progressive cultural organisation like Udichi to hold an event without following the necessary instructions to ensure security."
"In the past, Udichi has seen extremist attacks at different programmes, so it is expected that Udichi will respect various security instructions given by the DMP in the future for the sake of their own and the people's safety," the statement added.
"We think that those who hold programmes without following rules or directives should take that responsibility," Arafat said.
On March 31, Udichi issued a statement condemning the government's decision to restrict the timing of the Pahela Baishakh celebratory programme to 6:00pm.
Its leaders said the decision to stop the programmes at 6:00pm was unwarranted and could not be acceptable. They demanded reconsidering the government's decision.